The mistress of a
father of 17 moved out of the family home with five of the couple's
children just a week before the tragic blaze.

Friends and neighbours said yesterday that Lisa Willis left after Michael Philpott refused to divorce his wife and marry her.

A separate five of his children, all born to wife Mairead and all under the age of ten, were killed when flames tore through the house in Derby as they slept.

A 38-year-old man and woman aged in her 20s were earlier being held on suspicion of murder but tonight were
released without charge.

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Mick and Mairead Philpott, pictured with five of the six children who died in the house fire. The other identities have been obscured for legal reasons

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Complaint: Mr Philpott had previously demanded a bigger council house

Tragedy: The scene in Victory Road, Allenton, Derby, where five children died and two adults were taken to hospital this morning after a fire

It is thought that Miss Willis may now be pregnant with Mr Philpott’s 18th child.

A
series of anguished Facebook postings over the last month reveal Mr
Philpott’s torment over the turbulent situation as he declared his love for all
his children.

He had made a public appeal to be moved from the home where the blaze occurred to a
bigger property to accommodate his unusual and growing family.

One friend,
who asked not to be named, said: ‘Lisa left and took the children with
her. I think she stopped Mick from seeing them at one point.’

The
five dead children were last night named as ten-year-old Jade,
John, aged nine, Jack, aged eight, six-year-old Jesse, and Jayden, who
turned five in February.

Devastating fire: The exterior of Mick Philpott's home in Allenton, Derby

The 13-year-old survivor, Duwayne, who has been transferred to a burns unit in Birmingham, is understood to be Mrs Philpott's son from a previous relationship.

Derbyshire Police said Mr and Mrs Philpott have asked for privacy during this difficult time as they continue to support the boy in hospital.

Mr Philpott has four biological children with Miss Willis: Shareen, aged eight, Katrine, seven, Kirk, six and five-year-old Yawery.

A fifth child, Jordan, 12, was Miss Willis’s from another relationship, but was raised by Mr Philpott and his then-mistress.

Mr Philpott also has six more children: David, 25, Richard, 24, and Michaela, 21, with his first wife, Pamela Lomax; Mikey, 14, and Aidan, 13, with ex-girlfriend Heather Kehoe, and Joshua, five, who Mr Philpott once said was the product of a liaison with the partner of a friend.

Mourning: Horrified neighbours have been laying flowers near the house since the fire and have set up a charity to help pay for the funerals

TV appearance: Mick Philpott on the Jeremy Kyle Show, where he talked about the 15 children he had at the time

Just days ago, Mr Philpott, one of nine siblings himself, wrote of missing his ‘beautiful babies’ as part of a string of Facebook postings professing his love for of his children.

He wrote on May 1: ‘I love all my children more than life itself, including the ones who are not my flesh and blood.’

But less than an hour later, another comment apparently about Miss Willis laid bare the souring of relations between them.

He wrote: ‘All I want is my wife and all my kids they mean more. I’m sorry things turned out like this for my family. Thank Christ I did not divorce Mairead and marry that.’

It is understood the couple parted in late January and had some sort of reconciliation in mid-April, before tensions grew again.

Tribute: A friend of Mr Philpott said that the father 'loved all his children the same'

The blaze broke out at the house in Allenton, Derby, at around 3.45am at the front of the 1960s semi. It is near the city’s giant Rolls Royce factory.

Next-door neighbour Joe Peel, who alerted the emergency services, said he was woken by his dog barking and looked outside his window to see the Philpotts’ front door alight.

He said: ‘I ran out of the house, screaming to the neighbour to wake him up. No one could get near the house because of flames and smoke.

‘Everyone was screaming. A couple of minutes later the fire brigade came down with the police.

‘Two or three minutes later you could see the flames going up the stairs through the side window of the house. When the fire brigade came it was billowing smoke going up the road – it was absolutely horrible’.

Another neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said: ‘It was terrible, just so bad. There was nothing anybody could do.’

It is understood Mr Philpott and his wife were downstairs asleep and were woken by the smoke alarm.

Sympathies: Ann Widdecombe, who appeared with Mr Philpott in a TV show, said 'no one could call him a bad father'

A neighbour said Mr Philpott was later seen trying to smash the conservatory window to get back in.

Acting assistant chief constable Steve Cotterill, of Derbyshire Police, said the arrested woman was held elsewhere in the city.

He said: ‘Our thoughts are with the
parents and the family of the children for their tragic loss and for the
community of Allenton, who would of course have known the children.

'I want to stress that we are keeping an open mind in terms of the investigation. The arrests are only one aspect of the inquiry.

'It is paramount that we have a thorough investigation of the scene before we determine the cause of the fire.

'People in the community have been very cooperative and I'm really appreciative for all the help and support we have had as we investigate this tragedy.'

He said officers were working with the fire service to identify the cause of the blaze.

Mr Cotterill said eight people were living in the house permanently, though there might be other people who stayed there from time to time.

Neighbours in Allenton mourning the deaths of the five children have now set up a charity to help pay for their funerals.

Bobby Sutherland, who has lived on the same estate all his life, was inspired to set up an online charity called Catch Me When I Fall because of the children.